Area voters’ main focus is on West Boca in Primary Election Tuesday

By Dale M. King

PALM BEACH COUNTY – Horace Greeley’s famed admonition, “Go West,” will certainly hold true in South County when voters go to the polls in Tuesday’s primary election.

The electorate will narrow the field for one House race in the western suburbs and trim the number of Democrats lining up for a November clash that will replace an iconic member of the county’s governing board.

Democrat Burt Aaronson will hang up his District 5 commission mantle after 20 years on that board – the result of term-limit laws.   He has thrown his support behind his senior administrative assistant, Mary Lou Berger. She is considered the odds-on-favorite to win the seat because of her familiarity with the area and the district’s constituency as well as her Democratic label in an area that’s heavy on “Ds”.

Also looking to succeed Aaronson is Steven Meyer, a Democrat who has been endorsed by the Sun Sentinel.  A third Democrat, Rick Neuhoff, a marketing consultant from West Boca, is also in the race.

The winner will face Republican Paul Tocker in the November election.

In House District 81 (the former District 78), two men who faced each other before will be going eye to eye again in this revised district that went from a sinuous voting area to a compact location.

The incumbent, Steve Perman, a West Boca chiropractor heavily involved in legislative matters for his trade as well as community activities, will defend his seat against Kevin Rader.  Perman has the endorsement of the Palm Beach Post in this contest.

Perman and Rader first faced each other in 2008 and Rader won.  Two years ago when Rader decided to run for Senate, Perman was elected to House District 78 without a primary or general election opposition while Rader lost to Lizabeth Benaquisto.

In the new District 81, Rader is back to take on Perman.  The winner faces James Ryan O’Hara, a Republican, in November.

In other races:

• Former District 22 U.S. Rep. Allen West has jumped to District 18 through redistricting.  He faces Robert Crowder in the Republican primary. Jerry Lee Buechler, Jim Horn and Patrick Murphy are seeking the Democratic nod on Tuesday. Winners of the two primaries will face each other and write-in candidate Marilyn Davis Holloman in November.

• In the new District 22, Democrats Lois Frankel, former mayor of West Palm Beach, and Kristin Jacobs, a former Broward County Commissioner, face each other in the primary. The winner takes on Republican Adam Hasner and write-in candidate W. Michael Trout.

• Nelson “Woodie” McDuffie, the mayor of Delray Beach, hopes to unseat Susan Bucher as Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections.  He cites his expertise in dealing with complex electronic databases and software programs. He is an IT manager for the property appraiser’s office. Bucher cited her efforts to improve the office after the woeful terms of former election supervisors Arthur Anderson and Theresa LePore. While she drew criticism in 2010 when Palm Beach was the last major county in Florida to report gubernatorial election results and for her office’s botching of the Wellington election earlier this year, she responded with a promise of new pre-election software tests that should prevent the problem from occurring again.

• A potential two-incumbent race is shaping up in Senate District 34.  In the primary, one incumbent, Ellyn Bogdanoff, faces fellow Republican, Mike Lameyer in Tuesday’s election.  The winner will face incumbent Democrat Maria Sachs in November, in a race that could gain national headlines. Democrats hope to bring the seat back into that party’s fold; the GOP hopes to hang onto the seat Bogdanoff won by a handful of votes in a 2009 special election.

• For Palm Beach County Sheriff, Ric L. Bradshaw is hoping to outdistance two rivals, Joe Talley and Cleamond Lee Walker, along with write-in candidate Kevin Patrick Coleman. The two top vote-getters face each other in November.

• For the state Senate seat in District 27, Democrats Mack Bernard and Jeff Clemens are facing each other.  A write-in candidate, Travis Genard Harris, also may be running.

• In state Senate District 25, two members of the GOP, Melanie Peterson and Geoff Sommers, are in a run-off. The winner takes on Democrat Joseph Abruzzo in November.

• Two general office holders will have their contests virtually decided next week. Incumbent Clerk of Circuit Court Sharon Bock faces Lisa Epstein while Tax Collector Anne Gannon is being challenged by Pete Carney. The winner takes on write-in candidate Allison Schuler in November.

• A rare race for Seat 5 on the Greater Boca Raton Parks and Recreation Board has arisen. The winner will be selected among Stephen Engel, Felipe Martinez and Tom Thayer.

Finally, incumbent Irv Slosberg has won his seat in House District 91 without a challenger from inside or outside of the party.